Here's the thing. Both copywriting and content writing are important aspects of marketing and branding your business. But, they are not the same thing.
While they're often confused as the exact same task, they actually serve different purposes. Mostly, this is not information people need. However, if you're outsourcing content - you must know what to ask for. Otherwise, your expectations and the provided outcomes will not align.
So - here's what you need to know to get everything in order.
There are so many differences between the two. Yet, the differences are slight and so it can be difficult to understand. To make it digestible, let's break it down into small chunks.
At the most basic level, copy is text. More specifically, it is text used to gain either interest or attention.
Content is a body of information (regardless of its medium) that serves a specific purpose - often to educate, inform or entertain. While the copy is only text, content can be images, videos, animations, written blogs, essays, case studies, white papers, and so on.
From this, we can gauge that the most basic difference between copywriting and content writing is its core purpose.
In the above, I referred to various mediums of content. However, from here on we'll be talking exclusively about written content.
So let's put both content writing and copywriting under the microscope.
As mentioned earlier, the purposes of these two types of writing are different.
While copywriting is used to sell or drive action from a reader or audience, content is meant to inform educate or entertain them.
The former is to grab the attention of the target marker. The latter is to keep their attention through trust and relationship building.
Here's another way to think about it. Copy converts. Content drives traffic.
Each of these marketing elements also has different goals to achieve - different KPI's so to speak.
If you want to persuade people to do something, your best bet is to approach a copywriter. On the other hand, if you'd like to be informative then content writers are the way to go.
Copywriters create a much shorter version of copy. Copy is punchy, concise, and to the point. Think taglines, advertisements, slogans, and landing page content.
For long-form pieces - content writing is the answer. Content can be considered everything between 300 and thousands of words. Examples include blogs, newsletters, whitepapers, reports, e-books, and case studies.
While SEO is an important factor to consider for the success of a website or online platform, it is much more important for content writers than it is for copywriters. Copywriters definitely have an understanding of SEO, but content writers have in-depth knowledge of it. Again, this brings us back to the purpose.
Since the copy is punchier and meant to create action, it has short-term effectiveness. It creates action now (from where ever the audience is seeing it). It doesn't have much effect on SEO.
On the other hand, part of the purpose of content is to generate traffic to your landing pages and website. It is a key factor for good website SEO. Search engines have algorithms that dig through your content to find key search terms that people are looking for. This can take a long time, but it will be worth it.
Hopefully, this deep dive has empowered you with the knowledge you need to get your marketing and advertising up and running. While both forms of writing are necessary at some point, you won't necessarily need them at the same time. Consider the differences before you get going, or before you brief your writer.
Ilhaam Bardien
28th February 2023
Freelance copywriter, with a variety of industry experience in B2B and B2C content.
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